- Paperback - Number of Pages: 268 pages
- Dimensions: 154.94 x 231.14 x 20.32mm - 430.91g
- Publication date: 24 Jul 2014
- Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
- Publication City/Country: New York, United States
- Language: English
This book may be most valuable for its call to pedagogical reform. It would be helpful for revising the aims of broad world-lit surveys or humanities courses, or, indeed, for reframing almost any literature class. ...Landy's book also offers persuasive talking points for any defense of the liberal arts mission... His book is a good manual for training Landy's own readers in how to become formative teachers. Ashley Barnes, Comparative Literature Joshua Landy has no patience for the simple-minded moral didacticism that permeates recent literary theory and philosophy. Sure-footed and light-handed, he emphasizes the 'formative' rather than the 'informative' function of literary fiction. Eloquent, erudite, witty, and just as passionate, Landy has given us a new way of looking at the importance of fiction for life a new and marvelous 'defence of poesy.' What do we gain from reading fiction? Joshua Landy's brilliant new book advances a provocative answer with impressive verve, erudition, and insight. His...